Friends or Lovers
By Folc4evernaday
Part 2
***
The funeral was slow. Mayson’s voice echoed through his mind. “So, that’s what you’ve been hiding … “ and “Resurrection.”
Guilt consumed him as Mayson’s family and friends attempted to console him with knowing smiles, causing his guilt to eat at him even more. Everyone seemed to think Mayson and he had been an item. If he had only set her straight, not led her on the way he had. He had so many wasted chances to tell her he only wanted to be friends. The look of pity in everyone’s eyes ate at him as he listened to the minister’s words numbly.
She had been so young, her whole life ahead of her. She had challenged Superman and seen past the glasses Clark Kent wore. He hadn’t known what to think. He did care about her but as a friend. Now, it was too late. Had she seen him with Lois when she opened her car door that night? If only —
His guilt had been consuming him the past few days. He and Lois seemed to be walking on egg shells around one another. He wanted nothing more than to be with her, but he couldn’t seem to control his guilty conscience. He loved her. He wanted to be with her and pick up their blossoming relationship where they had left off, but he couldn’t seem to shake himself out of the guilty reverie he was consumed in.
Work had been the only safe topic for him and Lois lately. She went out of her way to avoid speaking to him, keeping as much distance between them as possible. Did she pity him too?
The sound of Mayson’s car exploding kept him awake every night. He kept recalling that night over and over as he tried to figure out what he could have done differently. The kiss he had shared with Lois had been incredible. He had dreamed of a night like that since his first meeting with her. Now his memory of their first kiss was tainted with the memory of Mayson’s murder. Lois had surprised him that night when she had kissed him so thoroughly; her kiss was the last thing he had expected. He had lain awake that night recalling her taste as he fought to silence the voices of guilt that rang through his subconscious.
***
Lois watched Clark cautiously as the minister spoke. She gave a sideway glance towards him, unable to read his expression. He seemed so distant lately. Ever since that night, she had hardly been able to talk to him. It was hard to wrap her mind around the idea that this was Superman struggling with the death of a friend. A liar; he was a liar. She had been working beside Superman for over a year and didn’t even know it.
Her best friend flew around in tights, coming to the rescue whenever he was needed. ‘Cheese of the Month? Yeah, right,’ Lois thought to herself in disgust. How had she been so blind? She was furious. She was the top investigative reporter for the Daily Planet and she hadn’t seen it. All the excuses; lame excuses at that. She was angry at him, but she was also angry at herself for not figuring it out sooner.
What was she supposed to do? It hurt. Forgiveness had never been something to come easy to her, but she knew she had to forgive him if she wanted to continue their relationship. If only it didn’t hurt so much.
Clark was hurting too, she knew that. She had been so tempted to confront him over the past few days, but had never been able to do it. That blank look in his eyes had silenced any anger or fury that consumed her. She had never seen him like this before. “Are you okay?”
“The last thing she said to me was ‘Resurrection’. What was she trying to tell me?” he murmured in a monotone voice as he stared at the ground.
“Maybe you’d like a few minutes alone … to say good-bye. I’ll meet you in the car,” Lois said as she walked away.
The expressionless look in his eyes and the emotionless tone of his voice was eerie. This was not the Clark she knew. Not even Superman had ever been so detached. She knew he had cared about Mayson, but had he loved her? He seemed to be taking her death very hard. ‘Don’t cry … ‘ she told herself.
She had never known the extent to which his and Mayson’s relationship had developed. She had always been jealous of the woman but refused to admit it. She had been uncertain of her feelings for Clark when Mayson had shown up she had fought against the jealousy that had consumed her. She hadn’t realized she was in love with him until a few days ago, the night of their first date.
She wouldn’t be his second choice. If he had loved Mayson then she would know where she stood. She brushed away a few stray tears from her eyes. She wouldn’t give in to self-pity. She was above this.
A slight groan could be heard from the graveyard as she walked by one of the open graves. Lois looked around and centered in on the coffin the sound had come from. Curious, she opened the coffin and found a man’s corpse inside. He was dressed in a black tuxedo that looked like it came out of a bad horror film. His face was slightly purple and his lips and eyelids held a slight bluish tint to them.
He opened his eyes and looked straight up at her. She yelped, stepping back a few feet. He reached for her and she slammed the coffin down on him. A groan of pain could be heard within the coffin.
“Clark! Clark! Clark!” she cried as she ran as fast as she could to him. Angry at him or not, he was still the only person she could turn to in this type of situation.
***
Across the cemetery, a balding man sat in an SUV with a petite man in his mid-thirties.
“Albie, what just happened?”
“I … I don’t know, Mr. Gables.”
“Fix it!!!”
“Yes, Mr. Gables!!” He rushed out of the car and ran to the coffin. Albie retrieved a small blue pill from his pocket and forced it into the man’s mouth, forcing him to swallow it. He then shut the coffin once more and returned to the car.
“Just a mix up with the dosage, Mr. Gables.”
“Albie, if Resurrection is to succeed I can’t have any more of our dead friends WAKING UP!”
***
Clark looked up from his daze when he heard Lois calling his name frantically. “Lois, what’s wrong?”
She jerked his coat sleeve towards her and forced him in the direction of one of the plots in the cemetery. He had never seen her so rattled before.
“Clark! There’s a man in a coffin! He, he looked at me! He opened his eyes and he looked at me! He’s not dead!”
“Lois, Lois … calm down.”
“Clark … “
“All right, show me where.” He let her lead him over to where two cemetery workers were burying a coffin.
“Hey, wait! Stop!” Lois yelled at the workers; they continued to lower the coffin into the plot, ignoring her protests.
“You got a problem, lady?” one of the workers asked her.
“The body you just buried is still alive. He opened his eyes and looked at me.”
The worker stared at Lois for a moment then began to shovel dirt into the grave once more.
“Hey! I know what I saw!” Lois glared at the worker and proceeded to take the shovel from the offending man. “Dig him up!”
“Lady, they don’t pay me enough for this aggravation.” The worker grabbed his shovel back from Lois and began to shovel more dirt onto the coffin.
Clark looked down into the grave using his x-ray vision. He could see a man lying completely motionless and at peace. He tried listening for a heartbeat or any kind of breathing, but still found no sign of life.
“Doesn’t it bother you the tiniest bit that you could have buried a man who is still alive?”
“Look, I got a work order to plant this guy in 29B. Now, unless I get a court order telling me not to, I’m plantin’ him. And if you don’t get out of my face you may become the first person ever ejected from a cemetery.” The man continued to shovel dirt into the burial plot.
“Lois, come on. Think about everything we’ve been through the past few days … Maybe it wasn’t what you thought — “
“Clark … “ Lois was near tears at this point. Why didn’t he believe her?
“Please.”
“Fine,” she huffed as they walked away.
“Here, let’s go get some coffee.”
“Fine.” Lois handed him the keys to her Jeep and climbed in, too upset to drive herself.
Clark sighed as he climbed into the driver’s seat.
***
<<’Lois, trust me on this, I am not your ordinary man.’>>
<<’Poor Woman’
’Who?’
’Your wife. She’s married to Mr. Right. Mr. Always Right.’>>
<<’Lois, you don’t need a partner. You never did.’
’Well, maybe not, but I was starting to enjoy having one.’>>
<<’I have been in love with you for a long time. You had to have known.’
’I knew … well, I knew that you liked me, were attracted to me, but … I’m sorry. I don’t think of you that way … ‘>>
<<’If you were just an ordinary man … if you had no powers at all, I would love you just the same.’>>
<<’Oh, Clark, I don’t care if he used crazy glue, you’re back!’>>
<<’No matter what happens, I’ll never lose Clark.’>>
<<’This isn’t dancing.’
‘It’s not?’
’This is.’>>
<<’Lois, I’m trying to ask you out, not negotiate a nuclear arms treaty … ‘>>
<<’When you think about it, the only time people really express themselves is when they’re passionate and the polite veneer of society drops away … like when they’re fighting … ‘
’Or make love.’>>
<<’What about Mayson?’
‘Well, the guy’s only got two tickets.’
’Clark … ‘
’Lois, I’m asking YOU out.’>>
<<’Fortunately there are no doors here tonight … ‘
‘Fortunately … ‘>>
Who knew that almost two years ago when she had been introduced to the naďve farm boy from Kansas she would be dealing with this dilemma? She cast a wayward look towards him. He looked so different out of his Superman persona, more relaxed, but she could still see the similarities. His well-defined profile, his eyes … She eyed his body appreciatively. Even his business suits couldn’t hide everything about his well-defined figure.
They had been dancing around one another for what seemed like an eternity, neither saying what the other was thinking. Mayson’s death had taken a toll on both of them. She needed to talk to Clark about a lot of things. Superman, Mayson, and what was going to happen to them.
It hurt. It really hurt. She had known him for almost two years. He had lied to her every day. She had confided in him her deepest secrets, turned to him in her hour of need, but he had continued to lie to her day in and day out. Understanding his reasoning for it was hard. How could he pursue a relationship with her when he withheld such a huge part of himself from her?
’Was,’ her mind reminded her. There was no sign of him pursuing any kind of relationship with her now. He hadn’t spoken two words to her in the past week that hadn’t been about work or the funeral. Today had been the first time he’d mentioned anything about what Mayson had said to him before she died.
“We’re here,” Clark said as they got out.
“My apartment?”
“We need to talk and you always have at least SOME coffee,” he joked with her.
Lois glared at him but made her way up the stairs. He was right. They did need to talk. The question was whether she was ready to have that conversation with him.
***
TBC...
Last edited by folc4evernaday; 10/28/16 07:50 AM. Reason: Update
